Police critical of Catholic Church over its handling of child sex abuse cases

POLICE say the Catholic Church has not reported a single case of child sex abuse in more than half a century, despite hundreds of victims coming forward or being identified by investigations.

As a parliamentary inquiry into churches' handling of child abuse began hearings yesterday, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton slammed the church for hindering investigations.

The panel of MPs was told a national royal commission could help stamp out church child abuse.

Police called for mandatory reporting of offences and accused the Catholic Church of keeping vital information from authorities.

"We can't find an example where, of their own volition, the church has brought forward a complaint to us," Deputy Commissioner Ashton told the inquiry.

"If a stranger were to enter the grounds of a church and rape a child, then that rape would be quickly reported to the police and action expected.

"But if that stranger is a member of the clergy ... a special process is wrapped around him, which discourages the victim from complaining to police and seeks to ensure the offending clergy member is not only not prosecuted and jailed, but never included on the sex offenders' register."

An analysis by police reveals 2110 offences by staff in religious organisations were recorded between 1956 and 2012.

They were committed against 519 separate victims, 370 of whom were involved with the Catholic Church.

In a 2009 case, police approached the church for details of a clergy member suspected of offences but the suspect was subsequently copied in on an email to police, alerting him to the investigation and giving him time to destroy evidence.

In a responding statement, Archbishop Denis Hart said many victims had reported abuse to police after close consultation with the church.

"This is often a result of the encouragement and assistance provided to them by the church processes," he stated.

"The Catholic Church in Victoria supports the role of Victoria Police as the appropriate authority to investigate criminal activity. This should not be confused with the church's processes, which are focused on responding to the needs of victims and preventing further abuse, rather than prose- cuting criminal conduct.

"For the past 16 years the Catholic Church in Victoria has been honest and open in its co-operation with Victoria Police."